Havai'i

Havaiʻi, later known as Raiatea, is a high island in the Leeward Society Islands, surrounded by a reef and shared lagoon. At Opoa on its southeastern coast stands Taputapuātea, a complex of marae used for political, religious and funerary ceremonies. Its sacred pass through the reef opened onto the routes connecting Polynesian islands. Stone-paved courts and platforms marked the spaces where the living met ancestors and gods.

The rise of Taputapuātea was linked to the Tamatoa chiefly line and worship of the god ʻOro. Priests and chiefs travelled to the site from other islands, making Raiatea a centre of religious authority as well as voyaging. In 1769 James Cook and Joseph Banks visited Taputapuātea, recording its stone structures and ceremonies during the Endeavour’s Pacific voyage.